


Starlight

by Rakshi



Category: Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-11
Updated: 2011-12-11
Packaged: 2017-10-27 05:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/292152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rakshi/pseuds/Rakshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam finds a bit of hope in the light of a star and a beloved memory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> A little Sam story which was posted for the Waymeet 'Nursery Rhyme' challenge. Takes place just before Sam sees the star of Ephel Duath which is my very favorite quote from 'Lord of the Rings'. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> My prompt:  
> Star light, star bright  
> First star I see tonight  
> I wish I may, I wish I might  
> Have the wish I wish tonight

Sam stared gloomily through a bramble bush to the bleak plain that lay beyond, holding his breath, alert for the sound of hooves galloping on the distant road or padding feet moving stealthily toward them... anything that might endanger his beloved master. But he heard nothing that could threaten the comparative safety of their resting place. Across the vast plain that lay before him, the only sound that came to his ears was the harsh echo of Mordor's night noises.

 _Lor, it's dark here,_ he thought. _Nary a star. Nary a breeze. Not a blessed thing to ease the blackness of this evil place._ He squirmed against the hard rock, trying to ease his back. "Even the sounds here are spiteful," he murmured aloud. "Like an angry voice tearing at you. And this darkness! It creeps inside you and freezes your heart." He turned questioningly to his companion. "Don't you think so, Mister Frodo?" Then he smiled, remembering. Frodo was curled up at his side, sound asleep.

"Good, " Sam said firmly. "I'm glad you're getting your rest, my dear one." He stroked the rumpled curls, carding them gently through his fingers so as not to wake the sleeper. "Sleep," he whispered to his unhearing companion. "And may your dreams be filled with the light of Lórien. Fair and lovely like the light within you."

Almost against his will his eyes returned to the pitch-dark shadow world that lay beyond their small rocky lair. "Fine thing!" he said gloomily. "My Mister Frodo laying on hard rock with naught but a bramble bush to shield him. It's enough to break my heart. Him of all people, with his gentle heart. Always doing good, always wanting to help folks in need. And who's here to help him in his need? Naught but me."

 _And what if I'm not enough?_ he thought suddenly, sitting bolt upright. _What if this horrid blackness claims him... or worse yet... claims **me** so I'm not there to care for him and help him?_

"My stars, what a thought!" he said after a moment, his voice faintly astonished. "I've spent near every step of this journey fretting that something might harm **him**. Never once crossed my mind that it'd be a worse misery if he'd lost ME!"

He shuddered with a sudden chill and cast a worried eye in Frodo's direction. "This cold freezes your bones," he muttered. "It's not natural... not a bit. Everything here is alive-like and pure evil at heart, like it's **trying** to hurt you." He pondered this for a moment. "Can cold and dark be evil all on their own?" He glanced toward the menacing mountain and the black tower that he knew lay beyond. "Or is everything here touched by _that_ evil?" He stared for a moment then admitted defeat with a sigh. "'Tis a puzzle I reckon," he said in a low whisper, "but one that won't be solved by the likes of me."

Feeling the cold touch him again, he quickly shrugged out of his grey Lórien cloak and draped it over his sleeping master. "There," he murmured, bending over Frodo to tuck the cloak snugly around him. "Now the cold'll have to fight through both cloaks to find you."

He turned back toward the darkness and hugged himself, shivering. "Who'd a thought that we'd end up here?" he asked himself in soft wonder. "All those happy days in the Shire... going to Bag End every day to work in the garden... walking to the 'Green Dragon' with Mister Frodo... laying under apple trees together, talking in the afternoon sun." His words brought forth a flood of memories, and he felt hot tears burn his eyes. How he longed for the peace of those joyous days. How he longed to be safe in the Shire again with Frodo at his side!

Then, disgusted with himself, he scrubbing at his damp eyes with the back of one hand. "Stop it Sam Gamgee!" he scolded. "Such thoughts do no good. Here we are, and here we'll stay until Mister Frodo says we're quit with this place."

He turned his head to gaze at Frodo. "I love him so much," Sam whispered. "To see him suffer rips at my heart." Frodo stirred in his sleep and moaned softly as if suffering some hurtful dream and Sam drew in a deep, trembling breath. "Blast that black-hearted Gollum!" he spat in an angry whisper. "If he ever comes in sight of me again I'll throttle him blind! He brought us to this pass! He hurt and betrayed my master, and after how good Frodo him!"

He stroked Frodo's dark curls again and leaned close to whisper into his ear. "Sleep, my Frodo," he crooned. "All's well now... or as well as it can be in this horrid place. There's naught to harm you with your Sam close at hand." He sighed gently as Frodo's breathing altered... became slower and more peaceful. "That's better," Sam whispered, somewhat satisfied. "Rest while you can."

But the sound of his own voice as he soothed his master had brought another rush of memories. _Mister Bilbo used to sing to me,_ he thought. _Stories and songs he taught me, and me just the gardener's son._ He smiled and continued, almost absently, to stroke Frodo's hair, thinking about Bilbo. "He told me songs had a kind of magic," Sam said softly. "That they'd lift the heart and bring a touch of gladness even at the darkest times." He looked about him. "Well, I've not known a darker time than this... though I fear there may be darker times ahead of us." He wracked his brain, trying to think of a song that might bring a bit of light to the shadowy peril all about them. "Mister Bilbo taught me many a tune," he said at last. "But I'm blamed if I can think of one that'd bring gladness to this horrid place."

He took Frodo's hand and lifted his eyes to the night sky, fighting off a growing sense of gloom. _I daren't lose heart,_ he thought desperately. _I have to keep hope for Mister Frodo! How else will we survive this place?_ He began to lift Frodo's hand to his lips, then gasped as a soft glow caught his eye. "What's this?" he asked in surprise peering long into the darkness. "There!" he cried. "Just at the very edge of those clouds! Why, it's a star!"

Suddenly another memory flared in his mind and heart, a memory of his mother. "Mam," he breathed in soft wonder. "She taught me a song. ‘A wishing song’, she called it." In his mind he saw her bending over him, her voice soft and filled with love. _Sing this song when the first star appears in the night sky_ , she told him. _The first star is always a wishing star, Sammie, my little love. It will bring you what you most desire._

Sam felt hot tears sting his eyes. "Oh my Mam! I miss you so," he whispered. Then, with his mother's face and voice still fresh in his mind, he looked toward the night sky and softly sang:  
 __

>  _Star light, Star bright.  
>  First star I see tonight.  
> I wish I may, I wish I might,  
> Have the wish I wish tonight._

 

He kissed Frodo's hand and held it to his cheek. "Star light, star bright... I wish to help and guard my Frodo. Please let me be by his side while he does the deed he came here to do. Please keep me from harm... so that I can protect _him_." He kissed Frodo's hand again then laid it gently down, feeling the need for sleep beginning to overwhelm him. "I need to walk a bit," he murmured. "Walk a bit and try to stay awake." He thought again of his mother and her song then stood up slowly, shaking himself against the cold, and walked forward into dark night.  
\- end -

> _Far above the Ephel Dúath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his masters, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo's side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep._
> 
>  _They woke together, hand in hand._.


End file.
